The program has six primary mechanisms for professional development: the proseminar, the second-year empirical paper course, the departmental colloquium, departmental workshops, informal research collaboration with faculty, and formal teaching experience.
Proseminar
First year students take a two-semester course on professional development led by all departmental faculty. This course will introduce students to contemporary debates, academic writing, other aspects of the field as a whole, and various aspects of professionalization.
Second-Year Empirical Paper Course
In the second year, students take a two-semester course that guides them through writing their first full empirical paper. The second year paper must be defended by the end of the second year and serves as the basis for obtaining the MA degree en route to the Ph.D. The paper must also be submitted for publication by the beginning of the fall semester of the third year.
Departmental Colloquium
A key element of departmental life is the (almost) weekly Jensen speaker series. Students are expected to attend these talks as well as other departmental talks (e.g., job talks) as a key element of their professional socialization. Students are encouraged to attend talks in other affiliated units such as DNAC, DUPRI, the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and other campus speaker series.
Workshops
Much of the life of the department goes on in the various departmental workshops. Students are strongly encouraged to begin participating in a workshop early in the program and no later than the beginning of the second year of study.
Research Collaboration With Faculty
A great deal of professional development happens in the course of research collaborations with faculty. There is no formal mechanism to coordinate or monitor student collaboration with faculty, but our most successful students often co-author with faculty as part of their training. Students are encouraged to approach faculty members with research ideas rather than waiting to be asked to collaborate.
Teaching Experience
Most students will have the opportunity to work as a Teaching Assistant for some part of their time in the program. In addition to this experience, we encourage all students to teach their own course at least once after completing their Preliminary Exam.